Did you know that...
...the head-to-heads between Elena Rybakina and Marta Kostyuk is all-square? Both players have each won one their two previous meetings. The last duel was won by the Kazakh at last year’s US Open 6-2, 6-1. The Ukrainian on the other hand won 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3 in Adelaide at the start of 2023.
...Marta Kostyuk has won seven times against Top 10 players during the course of her career? Four such wins have come this year as she beat the American Jessica Pegula in San Diego and then Qinwen Zheng from China, Coco Gauff from USA as well as the Czech Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova here in Stuttgart.
...Elena Rybakina has won almost three times as much prize money in her career as Marta Kostyuk? The world No. 4, who is about three years older than her opponent, has amassed 13,325,930 dollars and Kostyuk 4,085,943 dollars.
…Marta Kostyuk is in the final of a WTA tournament for the second time this year? The world No. 27 also reached the finals in San Diego, where she lost to Katie Boulter from Great Britain.
...Elena Rybakina is the tallest player at the 47th Porsche Tennis Grand Prix? Measuring 1.84 metres, she is therefore nine centimetres taller than Marta Kostyuk at 1.75 metres.
...reaching the final in Stuttgart is Marta Kostyuk‘s biggest ever success on clay? Her previous best on the surface came in Istanbul in April 2021 when she made it to the semifinals.
...Elena Rybakina and Marta Kostyuk are both first-timers in the final of the long-standing Stuttgart tournament? Both the Kazakh and the Ukrainian had never previouly gone further than the last 16.
...Marta Kostyuk is the first Ukrainian to reach the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix? She has therefore gone one better than her compatriot Elina Svitolina, who was a semifinalist in 2021.
...Elena Rybakina has this year reached the final five times in eight attempts? January’s Australian Open (2nd round) and the tournaments in Adelaide and Dubai (both in the quarterfinals) are the only events in which she was knocked out earlier.
...Marta Kostyuk and Elena Rybakina have both played 12 three-set matches this year? They have both had to go the full distance on three ocassions alone this week in Stuttgart.
...Elena Rybakina has already won 25 matches this year? It is more than any other player on the WTA Tour. One place behind is her Polish semifinal opponent Iga Swiatek on 24.
...no player on the WTA Tour has hit as many aces as Elena Rybakina? Her opponents have failed to touch 207 of her deliveries.
...Elena Rybakina could today win her third title on clay and her eighth in total? The Kazakh triumphed at the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome in 2023 and previously in Bucharest in 2019.
